Best surprise ending: A Doll’s House. OK, so it was a play, but I saw it done as a TV movie before reading it. I hated Torvald, and was disgusted by Nora, but figured it was a typical 19th Century story, like Jane Austen might write. I almost turned it off, but I was surprised by the ending, I actually cheered.
The Usual Suspects, as I’ve mentioned before, had great style, but no substance. It was clear to me from the beginning who the “bad” guy was, and the only surprise was that someone reputed to be a genius would put together a byzantine plot to eliminate the one person who could recognize him, but forgot it would result of having dozens of police who could recognize him, plus mug shots, finger prints, and a bench warrant for his arrest for failure to appear. If it hadn’t been for lucky timing and conveniently dimwitted police, he wouldn’t even have been released from custody.
Does the evil sorceress’ first plan to kill the emperor in The Emperor’s New Groove count?
“I’ll turn him into a flea. A harmless, little flea. And then I’ll put that flea in a box, and then I’ll put that box inside of another box, and then I’ll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives, I’ll smash it with a hammer!”
Much as I love sports movies I often run out of love when the hero finally reveals that he is the real deal. I love the struggle but then when he turns out to be a living legend well…
So the best hidden reveal that the lead is the real deal while not letting the lead know that he is the real deal belongs to:
Dennis Quaid in *The Rookie * when he tests his arm against a roadside speed monitor.
No, that was MOST gratuitous use of nudity. It was so blatantly gratuitous it was actively jarring, and very badly done.
Best red herring: In Grosse Point Blank John Cusack’s character has left his gun in his room and has been followed to his high school reunion by an assassin. [spoiler]One of the other attendees has a gun, which he has shown to Cusack. How does Cusack dispatch the assassin? With a pen that a friend of his had given him earlier in the scene. The gun never figures in it.
I’ve always considered that to be a flipping of the bird to Anton Chekhov. [/spoiler]
For best spontaneous musical number, I vote the “I Will Survive” scene in The Replacements. Really. Because it was just as awful as it would have been in real life. They were doing the electric slide, for Og’s sake!